Snow season started last Monday, and I'm shut in until after New
Year's. I hope I get my alpaca tights darned by then.

In the meanwhile, I'm trying to drive the car once in a while to build
up my rotator cuff. At the moment, I can ride much farther than I
dare to drive.

Or I could have a week ago . . .

Isn't there some sort of recovery exercises or stretches for rotator
cuff rehabilitation? Years ago I had what was referred to as a "frozen
shoulder" and had to go to the clinic every morning at about 08:00
where a nice young Siri Lankan girl would move my shoulder further and
further every day.

And when I'd scream she'd say something like "You can tell its doing
good when it hurts" :-)

I had painful shoulder problems many years ago, and they recurred this
year, badly enough to keep me awake at night. Both times they responded
very well to simple exercises. This time, I'm continuing the exercises
(almost) every evening for maintenance.

I'm stretching a Theraband looped over a doorknob. With my elbow bent 90
degrees and held against my hip, I do ten internal 180 degree rotations
of my forearm (i.e. rotating my forearm from straight out until it
contacts my belt) and ten external rotations (the opposite motion). Then
ten 90 degree abductions of my straight arm, from hanging vertical to
straight out. (I think I have the terms right.)

On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 07:44:19 +0700, John B.
wrote:
In my case it was basically short tendons.

Mine is, the doctor assured me, irritated but not torn. I'm halfway
through a ten-day Prednisone treatment, and not as many motions hurt
as did last week -- only the elbow-bent moves hurt now, and not all of
them.

I wave my arms around whenever I happen to think of it. I'm planning
to make exercises for my arms a permanent part of our
getting-out-of-bed ceremony.

Just before opening Usenet, I accepted an invitation to a car pool to
a shopping mall. I went through five drafts trying to strike a
balance between mysteriously refusing to do my share and an organ
recital. I finally settled on something like "I can't drive very far
or after dark".

Snow season started last Monday, and I'm shut in until after New
Year's. I hope I get my alpaca tights darned by then.

In the meanwhile, I'm trying to drive the car once in a while to build
up my rotator cuff. At the moment, I can ride much farther than I
dare to drive.

Or I could have a week ago . . .

Isn't there some sort of recovery exercises or stretches for rotator
cuff rehabilitation? Years ago I had what was referred to as a "frozen
shoulder" and had to go to the clinic every morning at about 08:00
where a nice young Siri Lankan girl would move my shoulder further and
further every day.

And when I'd scream she'd say something like "You can tell its doing
good when it hurts" :-)

I had painful shoulder problems many years ago, and they recurred this
year, badly enough to keep me awake at night. Both times they responded
very well to simple exercises. This time, I'm continuing the exercises
(almost) every evening for maintenance.

I'm stretching a Theraband looped over a doorknob. With my elbow bent 90
degrees and held against my hip, I do ten internal 180 degree rotations
of my forearm (i.e. rotating my forearm from straight out until it
contacts my belt) and ten external rotations (the opposite motion). Then
ten 90 degree abductions of my straight arm, from hanging vertical to
straight out. (I think I have the terms right.)

For me, anyway, these work very well.

In my case it was basically short tendons. It hurt to move my shoulder
so I didn't move it and as because I didn't move it the tendons that
hold the joint together shortened and then of course it hurt to move
it so I didn't move it...

The cure was to move the arm, and thus the shoulder joint, until
normal motion, in all planes, was recovered.

The worst was a compound movement with the forearm bent up behind my
back and then the forearm-upper arm package rotated around the
shoulder.

But you are right in that, particularly as one ages, stretching
exercises really do become important if only to let us maintain
"normal" flexibility. I suspect that a lot of people who have limited
movement and blame it on the arthritis, or whatever, would probably
benefit greatly from an exercise and stretching program.

I ain't going noplace until the new year, then I'm starting over from
scratch. I've got a carrot: Duck Down and Above offers specials
every Friday, it's a nice quarter century, and we are low on stuffed
chicken breast.

I think my first excursion will be a five-mile loop to check out the
new Harbor Freight. I could go to Aunt Millie's Bread Outlet for the
first time in ages.

I sure hope the bruise from the cramp the night before last heals up
by then!

I found this essay on my desktop. I've no idea who wrote it or where
I found it, so I can't give proper credit.

I can expand it a bit; see below the quote:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

GO SLOW – This is the chief of all rules for riding on the
sidewalk. All the other rules fall under this one. You should never
ride faster than a relaxed jog. The sidewalk is built for pedestrians,
so you should not be going faster than them. Pedaling fast down the
sidewalk is a perfect way to get hurt, hurt someone else, or get
pulled over by a cop.

Yield to pedestrians – If you come up behind people walking, be
very polite and wait for a good time to ask them to let you pass.
Never come up behind them yelling, ringing a bell or anything else
that could startle or scare them. You are trespassing on their terrain
so be courteous.

Check every cross street and driveway – This is the dangerous
part! Drivers are used to pulling all the way up to the road before
coming to a stop and turning onto the street you’re following. Make
sure when coming up to a driveway or cross street that you slow down
and check to make sure a car isn’t coming. They aren’t looking for
fast moving vehicles to be coming off the sidewalk, so you have to be
watching for them!

Only cross the street at crosswalks – A good way to get hit by a
car is to come darting off the sidewalk into the street randomly.
Again, remember that drivers aren’t looking for people to jump off the
sidewalks into traffic randomly. If you need to cross the street, wait
until you get to a cross walk and do it there.

Be willing to walk your bike – If you regularly ride on the
sidewalk, there are going to be lots of times where the best decision
is to get off your bike and walk for a bit. This is usually due to
congestion. When there are just too many people around that you risk
hitting one of them, it’s time to walk. Constantly keep it in your
mind that you can get off your bike and walk if things seem “iffy”.

If there’s ever a time that you decide it’s better to ride on the
sidewalk than the street, follow these rules to stay safe and avoid a
ticket.

Photo Credit: moriza

-------------------------------------------------------------------

One has to chuckle a bit at the repeated idea that a bicycle could get
pulled over for stupid operation. I heard a rider get his welfare
checked one night, but I have never heard a ticket issued, or even a
"he's clear that he shouldn't do that.".

*

The author forgot a very important rule: when you come to a
crosswalk, get off and walk. When a car comes to an intersection, the
driver stops behind the crosswalk, then he creeps across the
crosswalk, and *then* he looks for crossing traffic.

It is essential that you be moving the way drivers expect objects on a
walkway to move. I deleted near nailed a crosswalk zoomer with my
bike one day. I doubt that anybody ever told him how close he'd come
to booking a helicopter ride for two.

*

Second paragraph. A lot depends on the walkway. When I come up
behind someone on the Heritage Trail, I say "I'm in the other lane;
you're just fine." On the Beyer Farm Trail, more often than not, I
get off and walk around the tour group. On the Chinworth Trail --
I've met pedestrians, but don't recall ever overtaking any, so I don't
know what I say. It's usually joggers there, so I'd probably just
slow down and stay behind him.

It should have mentioned: if somebody makes a special effort to get
out of your way, you should say "thank you".

*

Fourth paragraph: pppbbbbttt! There are lots of places where it's
safer to cross in the middle of the block, where they can come at you
from only two directions. Of course, it may not be possible to cross
a busy street at all unless you go to a crosswalk and wait for a light
to stop traffic for you.

Umm . . . if you are crossing a street and you are not in the roadway,
you are walking, right? pitiful worried look right? /look

There's one intersection where I get off and walk even though I'm in a
wheeled-vehicle path. Mostly because I have to take quick action and
don't want to risk falling, but to a very large extent, so that people
on SR 15 can see for themselves that I've stepped between the parked
cars for a better view and don't mean to madly dash into their path.

Sigh. Riding would be a lot simpler if there weren't so many
know-less-than-nothing riders that one must constantly emit "I'm not
going to do anything utterly insane" signals.

Just before opening my newsreader, I had tracked down a broken link on
Rough Sewing. (I found it on the Wayback Machine, please send them
five dollars -- or send me a snail address so I can.)

Which gave me the idea of DuckDucking key phrases from the quote to
find the place where I snitched it. What I learned was that I'm a
long way from being the first person to snitch these rules. One of
the places I found it was in a city ordinance in Pennsylvania!

I also found that some of the quoters didn't understand the words they
were quoting.

It snowed an inch in the night. I can remember when that would not
have deterred me; my skinny inch-and-a-quarter tires would cut right
through to pavement.

Well, that and I lived on a state highway, close to the village,
county, and state highway garages, across the street from the
emergency-dispatch building, half a block from the sheriff's
substation, and among two fire houses, two schools, and an ambulance
bay. People who skid on that road skid on salt. (One salt-skidder
slid into the Saab dealer, narrowly missed the gas pump, and took out
a row of newly-repaired cars. Shortly after that the dealer moved
from the location at the bottom of New Salem Hill to a spot at the top
of a hill and about a quarter mile from the road. I'm not sure there
was a connection.

What with the holidays, slick streets, early dark, and a cold that
started before Christmas and still hasn't gone away, I haven't been on
the bike since before our first snow on the ninth of December.

Which means that I'm not fit to go on a ride that's worth suiting up
for. I hope I finish darning my alpaca tights today. And I'd jolly
well better get my order for two pairs of silk tights into the mail.

I don't think I've looked for non-cotton sweat pants in Big R or the
sporting-goods store.

@20:27

Did get the order for tights into the mail.

There are still lots of thin spots in the alpaca tights, but I think
it will be safe to wear them on Tuesday.

There's a chance of rain, and both pairs of leave-the-house sweat
pants are partly cotton. But it's going to be much warmer -- the low
is predicted to be 25F (which accords rather oddly with 17F at the
lowest point on the graph, which shows 20F for the time I'd be
starting out.) So one pair of hand-knitted tights, possibly over
patched silk long johns or polyester "leggings" (footless pantyhose),
and definitely under ripstop wind pants, should be enough.

I hope I can get the bike out. The four-wheel drive truck takes up
more space in the garage than the car does. I have to turn sideways
to get behind it, and I can't cross in front of it -- where the bike
is -- at all.

It's going to be slightly above freezing for part of Monday, but no
sun, and there will have been snow the night before. On the other
hand, once across the bridge, I'll be on high-priority streets.

Now to find a place to go. International Foods isn't far, but it's on
Winona Avenue. And we have plenty of most of the stuff that I buy
there. (The "Palm" corned beef from New Zealand is excellent.)

The sidewalks are mostly unusable, but only streaks of snow remain in
the streets. An hour of sunshine would clear them, but we aren't
going to get that and might get more snow.

But the snow should slack off early Monday morning, it will be
slightly above freezing Monday afternoon, and there is a low
probability of more snow Monday night. Tuesday might be on!

And the winds will be no higher than 5 mph; we might even get that
hour of sunlight.

Fun dressing this morning; I chose a dress that doesn't allow an
underdress, and the sweat pants I wore the last time this happened
have been downgraded to grubbies and worn thin -- one actually has a
hole in the knee. So I got out the two I wear on the bike (when
absolutely positootly sure I won't get wet) and both are too long to
walk in. My Spalding tights aren't comfortable over "fleece lined
leggings" (brushed opaque-hose weight tights) and aren't all that
warm.

Finally realized that I don't have to be riding a bike to pin my pants
at the ankles.

Two different people offered to drive me home, and both were concerned
that it wasn't safe to walk in cold weather. I did wish that I'd worn
both shawls and another scarf, but wasn't actually cold.

Still no sun, but the overcast brightened a little while I was
preparing to nap. Streets still very, very wet. I had to walk in
snow a couple of times, but didn't ride through any except for a thin
streak of slush in a parking lot.

Six miles, no strain. Longer nap than usual, but I got to it late.

And Weather Underground says that it will be a week before I can go
again.

The parking lot was Owen's East, where I bought a chuck steak to slow
simmer tomorrow, but forgot that we are out of carrots. Still a few
sticks in the relish plate, and I don't put much carrot in my stew.

At New Year's my goal was to get strong enough to ride to Spring Creek
while it is still cold enough to carry cheese etc. without also
carrying ice.

I got a good start on the tenth of January, when a notice from the
library caused me to extend the first clear-roads day from two miles
to six.

Little did I know that it would be today before I could return that
seven-day book! (It was on its last renewal.)

The next day I noted that we could get the Versa out of the driveway,
but said "eh, we've got plenty of food". It's a good thing we did!
The following day my goal became "get strong enough to drive the car
to the grocery store"

Today I met that goal. Spent $112.

And I'm feeling vindicated. In New York, every time it snowed, the
scanner filled up with people on snowmobiles carrying necessities to
snowbound people almost before the snow stopped falling, and every
time I would sniff in unsympathetic disdain. "I'd feel embarrassed",
I said, "If I woke up to six feet of snow on a day I'd meant to do a
major shopping, and it took less than a week for my menus to get
wonky."

Well, it's been ten days since I should have done a major shopping,
and my menus have not gotten wonky. (Disclaimer: I'd stocked up on
milk on the way home from the book run.)

We are down to three kinds of cough drops (still; the grocery where I
went does not sell them), we were very, very low on meals that I can
shove into the oven and stagger back to bed, and I was down to fruit
cocktail, frozen dark sweet cherries, and canned pineapple for the
fruit bowl. But none of those packages have been opened.

A foam bowl half-full of half-frozen fruit chunks in the fridge is
very good for sick people. You will snitch a chunk of pineapple when
you wouldn't dream of peeling an orange.

And the only "prepper" thing I do is to keep a couple of cans of
evaporated milk in the house. That and keep at least half a dozen
boxes of nose tissue in the pantry, and a lunch-meat box of bags of
cough drops in the freezer. I'm always saying "if you need cough
drops, you don't feel like shopping", and oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

I just hope I didn't pick up a *third* virus on this trip. I think
that there are supposed to be only two that my shots won't stop.